Ottolenghi's confit chickpeas - anybody made it?

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/confit-tandoori-chickpeas

Looks lovely. I am planning to make it for a party, so scaled up, as part of a buffet. I was thinking of using several different types of beans instead of just chickpeas, and, to keep costs down and for quickness, tinned tomatoes. What I wondered was if it really needs all the garlic, as that looks like a huge amount (and I am a garlic lover). Thoughts? TIA.

I suppose if it’s good enough for him it’s good enough for me! And it’s going to cost a fair bit for all those tomatoes...

But seeing as I already have dried chickpeas I should probably just use those! I’ve got a pressure cooker so I’ve no excuse really.

Sounds delicious! My peeling garlic tip is to pour boiling water over the cloves and leave for a minute. The skin just slips off after that.

I’m a huge fan of chickpeas and always buy them dry. Usually a 500g pack per week. They can be pressure cooked from dry and the taste seems to benefit (more nutty) but trying to save fuel costs means I usually soak them overnight.

I make a similar tomato/.onion/spinach stew with spices Spanish style or chickpea curry or just roasted with spices. Pasta e ceci is simple and delicious.

But when I saw tinned chickpeas were being cooked for a further 70 minutes (and with so much oil) I was blindsided. Don’t they just turn into mush? My curiosity is piqued so that’s our Sunday lunch sorted!

@Sgtmajormummy they don't turn to mush! It's really a special recipe. My oven at 150 degrees for 75 mins does not cook this enough and when I've cooked it for longer, the oil starts to be absorbed in to the chickpeas and is unctuous rather than oily. Look forward to hearing how you go on. Focaccia and a salad on the side is how we have it.

@ArtyStripySocks Mutti tinned tomatoes are so much better than any others I’ve tried.

Half quants, just going in.

At the half-way, stirring stage, it does look very oily and not very appetising. I may well cook a bit longer, as you suggest.

How did it turn out?? @duc748

Absolutely lovely OP. I scaled down because only two of us at the moment. As per another poster, I had most of the ingredients but did get a couple of limes and some sourdough bread to dunk in the unctuous oil. Unfortunately, I can't take pics because mr ate everything up. Was well pissed off because he came back, took it out of the oven and nuked on hob. Luckily, I saved. Was really delicious with herbed yogurt plus nice bread for dunking. Most of his recipes are insanely complex - I'm a good cook but don't want to invest in stuff I may never use again but this was seriously yum!

Honestly, a bit underwhelmed. I think with the warming up, it was a bit over-done, and it shrunk so much, there was barely enough for one in the end, not really enough to feed my hungry son! The yoghurt was nice, though, and I made some chapatis. No issue with the amount of chilli or garlic, though.

Ah shame!

I have found that with recipes like this it’s often better to just cook the full amount as reduced quantities don’t always work as well, especially if it involves a longer cooking time. There’re only two of us but I usually still cook to serve four - that way I can freeze the rest and have a ready meal for another time.

I made this for our evening meal. It was delicious. The tip about pouring boiling water on garlic to peel it was brilliant.

I did find that making the herby yogurt sauce in the blender made it too liquid, even though I used full fat Greek yogurt. Next time I will chop the herbs and crush the garlic then just stir them into the yogurt.

I will definitely make this again. And thank you @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g for the recommendation.

It's a pleasure, @RampantIvy. I made the yogurt sauce the way you've just described and I thought it was lovely. My guests seemed to like it!

The smell in my kitchen as this cooks is absolutely amazing......

My garlic turned green. Did this happen to anyine else?

I've never seen it or heard of it before, but apparently it's a thing, and I imagine this recipe is the perfect storm for it based on this article. Its cooked on a low heat with acidic ingredients from the start. Apparently the garlic will taste stronger.

Thank you. Very interesting.

Just cooked a pot of this for my tea, absolutely delicious! I made the yoghurt stuff and had it with crusty sourdough. Reckon it makes 3 decent bowls-full so I have leftovers for another two meals although I am a greedy guts so may go for seconds. I will cook it a bit longer next time as it was still quite oily, but tasted amazing and I like a juicy stew if I've got bread to dip.

I used tinned Napolina chickpeas BTW. I did manage to find a jar of chickpeas in Sainsburys so I bought them for future use.

I got my fresh chilis and garlic from my local Chinese supermarket and my eye was caught by frozen dumplings, so guess what we had for Sunday lunch…

Mine is now in the oven, I used pressure cooked dried chickpeas and 150ml rapeseed/50ml extra virgin olive oil because after 2 bad harvests EVO has shot up in price. The rest was according to the recipe (maybe a bit less chili powder for DH’s sake).

I’ll see you on the other side!

I didn't put any chilli at all in mine as DH has had gastric surgery and can't eat very spicy food, but it still tasted delicious.

I really dislike the taste of rapeseed oil, which is a shame because oil seed rape is abundant where I live.

Just as an aside, does anyone know if you can do plain chickpeas in a slow cooker? The packet says soak overnight and then boil rapidly for 10 mins before simmering. Is the boiling needed to get rid of nasties in them or would a few hours just simmering in the slow cooker be OK?

This is the finished product.
It needed half an hour longer to soften in the oven, probably because my chickpeas were firm to start with. It smelled delicious from about an hour on.
But to satisfy four hungry adults we needed all the trimmings: cinnamon basmati rice and yoghurt sauce plus a salad and bread. They made a great tasting combo. Predictably DH thought it was too spicy, the others said strong but acceptable.

I’d give it an 8/10. Tasty and simple but I probably won’t make it again.

The basic Banoffee pie (Carnation caramel straight from the tin) I made as a palate soother got top marks. Simple folk with simple tastes, my three!

@JuJuHeyHey I’d say if they’ve reached boiling temperature at some point you can keep them simmering in a slow cooker.
I rinse mine before I put them in the fridge because they could get slimy, but other people use that water (aqua faba) as a stabilizer in meringues!

We've just had this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious, thanks for this thread OP!